Instantaneous govebnor for



UNITED STATES WM. W. H. MEAD, OF CHESTERTOWN, NEW YORK.

INSTANTANEOUS GOVERNOR FOR STEAM-ENGINES, &c.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,967, dated May 27, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVM. W'. H. MEAD, of Chestertown, in the county ofWarren and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Governors for Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, is an elevation of a governorconstructed according to my invention, and Fig. 2, a horizontal sectionof the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

This invention consists in a novel mode of combining a centrifugalgovernor or fly with a throttle valve or cut off whereby the movement ofthe inertia of the said governor or fly will act upon the valve in sucha way that any tendency toward increased speed of the engine will causethe supply of steam to be diminished and vice versa. This invention maybe applied either to marine or stationary engines but is particularlydesigned for marine engines.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, B, B, a, a, Z), Z), 0, and (Z, represent the different parts of acommon centrifugal governor acting upon a throttle valve C. Thisgovernor instead of being firmly secured to its spindle D, in the usualmanner so as to have no rotary movement independent of it, is loose uponthe spindle and connected therewith by the following means.

F, is a wheel with a smooth rim hung loosely upon the spindle betweenthe wheel F, and the governor. This wheel F, is connected with the shaftby means of a spring 6, one end of which is secured to the wheel and theother to an arm f, which is secured to the spindle D. It is alsoconnected with the governor by means of a friction clamp 2', whichembraces its smooth rim and which is secured to the governor by an arm9, and a stay h.

The spindle is driven by power derived from the engine through a spurwheel E, or its equivalent. The wheel F, is driven by power transmittedfrom the spindle to it through the spring 6, and it drives the governorby the friction of the clamp 2', upon it. The spring in driving thegovernor is always more or less contracted by I the movement of inertiathereof, the effect of which in contracting the spring will increasewith any increase of the speed of the engine and the governor spindle,and diminish with any diminution of the speed, the increase of speeddriving the spindle in ad vance of the wheel F, and the governor, andthe diminution allowing the wheel F, and governor to get on in advanceof the spindle. This advance of the governor or spindle acts upon thethrottle valve by means of a lever j, 70, working on a fulcrum pin Z,secured in the spindle D, the point of the arm 7', of the said leverbeing received in a slot or hole in the wheel and acted upon by thewheel to raise or lower the arm is, and thus by means of a rod m,attached to the said arm to raise and lower a loose sliding collar n, onthe spindle, which is embraced by a fork O, which connects with andoperates the valve.

Then the speed of the engine is very suddenly increased as it isfrequently in marine engines by one or both paddles being left almostentirely out of water, the governor spindle D, immediately advances farenough to close the valve to shut off the steam entirely, but in manycases this will not for some time materially check the speed, and

advance of the wheel F, as is allowed by the spring 6, until the arm f,comes in contact with some part of the wheel, causes the wheel to movewith it, but the movement of inertia of the governor resisting theincreased speed of the wheel F, overcomes the friction of the clamp, 2',and the spindle and wheel both move on at a greater speed than thegovernor until the force of the engine is expended or meets with greaterresistance. hen the engine meets with such resistance as to diminish itsspeed to a very great degree, the arm f, after the valve has been openedwide and the spring 6, has expanded as far as allowed, holds back thewheel F, but the movement of inertia of the governor will be sufficientto overcome the friction of the clamp z, and the governor will continueto rotate faster than the spindle until the extra resistance of themovement of the engine is overcome. In this way the governor isprevented being subject to the sudden changes in the velocity of theengine.

The centrifugal governor is not essential to this invention as the ballsare intended to serve merely as an equalizing reservoir the governorspindle after getting as far in p of momentum, and the place of thegovernor as far as has been described may be just as Well supplied by afly Wheel, which for marine engines Would always be adopted. But byemploying a centrifugal governor as described, it may be used in thecommon Way or as herein before described. In the former case, thegovernor should be secured to its spindle D, by a pin provided for thepurpose, and in the latter case the governor should be unfastened fromthe shaft and the balls secured to prevent their centrifugal action.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Combining the fly governor with the throttle valve, by fitting itloosely to the spindle D, and driving it by friction from a Wheel F,which is loose on the same spindle and which derives its motion from thesaid spindle through a spring 6, the said Wheel F, being connected inany convenient manner With the throttle valve or cut off, so that it maybe caused by the retarding or advancing effect of the moment of inertiaof the governor or fly, as the speed of the engine is suddenly increasedor diminished, as to diminish or increase the supply of steam to theengine substantially as herein described.

WM. W. H. MEAD. Witnesses:

VILLIAM Ho'rcHKIss, BRYAN MEAD.

